Patchwork Past
by CuriousEpicurian
Summary: Part one of the Patchwork Series. Lord Death pairs Stein and Marie up after Spirit and Kami team up, and this is the record of how their lives unfold before them.
1. Chapter 1

"Marie… Mjolnir?"

The Scandinavian name rolled off of his tongue so smoothly, almost pleasantly. He frowned slightly and reached up to twist his screw. Two swift counterclockwise turns, that's all he needed. Two successive rounds of clicking and his mind went back to the task at hand. He looked up to Lord Death as the reaper continued speaking.

"Yes. She is the best suited replacement, I think. With Kami and Spirit now working together, it's only natural we find you a new partner. Marie here has tremendous potential and since you are already acquainted it seems to be the best course of action." Death took this time to clap his hands together "You see, Marie has a soothing wavelength which would be good for you, Stein, and to be perfectly honest, she's the only person who isn't scared of you!"

Stein lowered his head and smirked. He knew that much. Even after disappearing and coming back with a giant piece of hardware through his skull, while everyone else had stopped making contact with him, Marie still talked to him, still smiled that smile of light and hope and acted as though nothing had happened. Looking back up, he stared into the abyss of Lord Death's eyes.

"Fine. I see no problem with it if she doesn't... On one condition."

Tilting his head to the side, Death stared right back "And that would be…?"

"I get reassigned to new housing. Living with Spirit when he is no longer my partner makes no sense. I should be living with my weapon, to get a feel for our new dynamic." Stein drawled out, as he placed his hands in his pockets. "There's that abandoned house on the hill, a straight shot from the DWMA but still on the outskirts of town – let us live there. It would be perfect for Marie's sense of direction or lack thereof and it keeps me away from the general population. It's a win-win if you ask me."

With a clap of his hands, Death bounced up "Then it's settled! You and Marie are officially partners! I'm sure this will work out wonderfully!"

"And when can we move?"

"You're free to move as soon as you leave. Class dismissed!"

Stein bowed his head before turning around to begin his retreat out of the Death Room and back into the halls of the DWMA. He'd have to alert Spirit that he'd be moving out, much to his chagrin. Though it was his own decision he still lamented the loss of what he considered to be a prime test subject. And then there was the matter of her…

"Franken! Hey …Franken!"

He was roused from his reverie by a familiar feminine voice. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed Marie waving at him as she hastened her pace to catch up.

"…Franken. H-hi!" A smile crept onto her face as she looked up at him "What's up? Did you and Lord Death figure out your course of action now that Spirit and Kami are…"

"Yes." Stein cut her off, and began to walk towards the exit "…A decision has been made. Incidentally, you're a part of it. You should get packing, Marie. "

"Packing? Where am I going, Franken?" Oh no! Am I being sent away? Does Lord Death want me elsewhere? How am I supposed to find a boyfriend if I'm shipped around all over the place!" Tears streamed down her face, her eyes filled with sorrow. '_Not to mention you! I don't want to leave your side, Franken…'_

"Don't be so dramatic, Marie. You're not going far, just a slight relocation. We'll be moving into our new home tonight if you're quick, so hurry up and go pack." Stein stopped at the door, placing a hand on the handle before looking back at Marie whose eyes had opened wide.

"…W…e? We? As in you and I? …Together?" Her hands flew to her cheeks as a rosy blush quickly fell into place.

"Yes. You're my new weapon. " Stein pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips before swinging open the door to the outside and stepping out. "As such, we'll be living together. The old house on the outside of town, right on this hill is ours now. Gather your things, I don't have much to move so I'll help you when I'm done. " He lit the cigarette and took a lung full of smoke, holding the door as his comrade followed him through the threshold. "…But we should get started soon, so we can finish today."

Marie watched the smoke swirl out of his mouth as he spoke and snapped out of the daze she had been put in the moment he mentioned their new living arrangements.

"Right! I'll head home to pack then."

Stein nodded at her before she turned away to head in the direction of her soon to be previous dwelling. He took another drag and blew out the smoke, watching the twists and turns of the smoke wisps in the air before starting the trek to his own old residence. _'Let's see how this experiment turns out.'_


	2. Chapter 2

Spirit's eyes brightened as he heard the doorknob being turned, and he bounded over. Wrapping his arms around the waist of the person that entered, he rubbed up close to them and greeted them in a sing-song voice.

"Kami, how glad I am to see you! I've been longing for you all day, we should get in some practice so that we have a full grasp of that human sexuality class we're taking~!" His lustful eyes glanced up to look up at the face of his beloved when his jaw went crashing into the ground.

"S-s-s-s-stein? Ack!"

He let go of his former meister in a flash and jumped up and back across the room in the blink of an eye. Trembling, he looked up as Stein flicked his used cigarette butt out the door before shutting it tight.

"That would indeed be me, Spirit. You know, I do live here. Not that you'll have to worry about that for much longer. I'm packing my things, Lord Death has granted me a new living space with my new weapon." Stein said nonchalantly as he began grabbing the few possessions of his that weren't in his room.

"You won't be living with me anymore?"

"That was what I was implying. "

"No more scare tactics? No more research? No more using me as a guinea pig?" Spirit chimed with hopefulness in his voice.

"Well the way you put it, maybe I should stay so you won't miss being my test subject…" Stein said putting a beaker back down on the table as if he was indeed changing his mind to move.

"No! Oh no no no no no ho ho! Who would miss being cut up like that? I never feel right after one of your experiments…" Spirit said with a shudder.

"That's funny. You didn't act any different after I switched your kidneys to opposite sides the other night…" Stein's glasses shined in the light as he adjusted them.

"WHAT?" Spirit tore his shift off in a panic, looking for any new cut marks or scars or anything to alert him to any project Stein might have used his body for.

"Made you look~" Stein said with a smirk, picking the beaker back up and placing all of the belongings he was holding into a box.

A look of pure relief crossed Spirits face, quickly being replaced with confusion as he realized the implication of Stein moving.

"So then, you never did say… who's the sorry chump Lord Death assigned to work with you now anyway? I feel bad for the guy who's stuck with you, poor guy won't even know what hit him when you cut him open for the first time…" Spirit involuntarily shuddered as he remembered waking up from his first time being an unwilling participant in one of Stein's operations. "And where will you be moving to anyway? I thought student housing was all full up for the year."

"That house on the hill. You know the one, it's been abandoned for years. And as for my new partner, I'm sure she'll fare just fine with me." Stein said, turning his back to his meister to walk towards his bedroom door.

"She? You're staying with a girl? You? But you're shit with girls, Stein! What girl in their right mind would agree to be your partner, let alone live with you?" Spirit's skewed features "Bet you she's ugly."

"Hey!" Stein's voice boomed through the house, making the weapon jump. "Don't… talk about Marie like that."

"Marie? Like, our Marie? Marie the Pulverizer?"

"One and the same."

"Well there you have it. Like I said, the girl would have to be out of their mind to pair up with you."

Stein calmly walked back to his former weapon, looked at him, and punched him in the face before doing a 180 and walking back into his room and shutting the door to accumulate his few but precious belongings.

Author's Note-

I really appreciate the reviews, this is my first fanfiction I've written since like middle school, almost 10 years ago so I'm a little nervous jumping into the game like this, but so far so good! I plan on updating fairly quickly, I'm already almost done with Chapter 3, so that will most likely be up by tomorrow. Please feel free to message me with comments and don't forget to keep the reviews coming so I can know if I'm going in the right direction or not!


	3. Chapter 3

Marie never realized how much stuff she had until she had to pack it up. Trinkets and doohickeys littered her shelves, little mementos of time gone by. She smiled and started to place her things into boxes, carefully arranging them so nothing got damaged. She had almost finished clearing off a bookshelf when something caught her eye – a little doll, no bigger than 3 inches in size. It had yellow yarn hair and a little dress made of patches of fabric. She held it up in her hands, taking such gentle touch with it, as if it would fall to pieces if even looked at the wrong way. A tear fell from her cheek as she held the doll close to her chest and smiled.

"I thought I had lost you, Patches."

She could still remember the day he had given her the special doll, the day they first met. It was her first day at the DWMA, and she had never been more excited or nervous in her entire life. As she entered the room to her new class, she stared up at the large auditorium like setting. Rows upon rows of benches all filled with people staring, looming down upon her. Clenching her fists, she looked around for a spot to sit and quickly made her way to her seat – the only one open. It was next to a lanky grey haired boy. Sneaking a few glances at him, she blushed lightly. Sure he wasn't the beacon of tall dark and handsome… but there was something about him, and she liked it. Shyly, she spoke softly to him.

"Hello. My name is Marie, I'm new to the academy. What's your name?"

Silence. He didn't even look at her.

Dejectedly, she just looked down at her hands, wringing them. '_That…didn't go as expected…'_ She thought to herself as she lifted her head to look at the professor who just walked in the room. She zoned out, head in the clouds, when she noticed the boy next to her's hands going in a rhythmic pattern – bobbing up and down. Saw a flash of metal in his hand. '_Is he sewing?_' She kept glancing over until she was outright staring at him. He eventually caught notice because he stared right back at her, his murky green eyes meeting hers. A bright blush crossed her face, and Marie felt power surging through her.

"Ah! Ah! Don't stare at me like that!" Her arm, having turned into a hammer, slammed into the boy's face. He went flying across the room and into the blackboard. Marie calmed down, saw what she had done, and became upset. "Oh no! Look what I've done!" The rest of the room stared at her in stunned silence as she ran down the stairs. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Oh, are you alright?" She leaned down, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

The injured boy stared up at her, his nose gushed blood, obviously broken. He finally broke his silence with laughter. A strong, frightening cackle issued from his mouth, confusing Marie. He finally wiped his nose with the sleeve of his stitched up shirt and smiled with a glint in his eyes.

"Very interesting."

Marie was absolutely perplexed.

"I-interesting?"

"Even in your current state, no formal training, not in full weapon form you're quite powerful." He said in a matter of fact tone, finally staunching the flow of blood from his nasal cavity, though his nose was still very much crooked.

"Um…Thank you… I guess." Marie smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of her head and then saw how severely bent out of shape his nose was. "Your nose! We should get you to the nurse!"

Shaking his head, the boy simply used his thumb to push his nose back in order, though the crunching noises made everyone who heard it cringe. "I've got it, no big deal." He stood up and shook himself off, walking back up into the lecture hall seating and plopping back where he had been sitting before.

Marie suddenly found herself standing in front of everyone, alone, with all eyes on her. Meekly, she followed her bench mate and sat back down beside him, not making a peep throughout the rest of the class. When class was over, she was the last one to leave the lecture hall. Before she stepped out of the room, she saw something on the ground – it was what that boy had been sewing! The needle and thread were still sticking out of it and everything. She picked it up and smiled. _'What a cute little doll…I should return it to him.'_ She thought, and with that she set off to find its owner.

She didn't have to go far, three steps into the hall and she found herself face to back of the boy from the classroom. She had run right into him. He stumbled for a moment, but readily caught himself before turning around.

"Oh. It's you again."

"Sorry about earlier… I'm not quite used to the power yet."

"You're quite the powerhouse. You seem to have accumulated a new nickname, I heard a couple of people toss around the name 'Marie the Pulverizer' in regards to you. Impressive, it usually takes a few months before they start labeling new students with nicknames."

"Ah… Oh! I have something of yours!"

He quirked an eyebrow at her and put his hands in his pockets.

"Here! It's that doll you were sewing in class… I must've knocked it out of your hands when you went flying…" She pulled it out, and presented it to him. "It's very cute. I like the patchwork dress, I'm assuming you're big on stitchery…" She giggled lightly as she looked at the stitched clothing he wore.

"Keep it, Marie. I found that thing on my way to school and was just bored. I just thought it needed some improvement."

He had said her name. He had been listening! She blushed and smiled up at him "Are...you sure?"

"Yeah, what use would I have for a doll anyway?" He turned back around and started walking away before stopping and turning back to face her. "By the way… I'm Stein. Franken Stein. I'll see you later, Marie."

And with that, he left. Marie smiled brightly. _'I think I've made a friend today. I also think that... he's the interesting one.' _

A knock on the door startled Marie, and knocked her our of her daydream, placing the newly found doll carefully in her pocket she looked at her bedroom door.

"Come in!"

The door squeaked as it opened, a head popping into the doorframe.

"Marie… So you're really moving?"

Marie smiled softly at her friend and nodded.

"Yes Kami, I'm really moving, but it's not like I'm leaving the country! It's just the outskirts of the city, I'll still be going to DWMA and everything. We'll still see each other everyday there! Think of it this way – now you'll get all the time with Spirit you want." Marie said with a wink and a cheeky grin.

The two girls looked at each other for a moment before hugging each other and laughing. Kami pulled away first and picked up a few books from a pile and started placing them in boxes. Marie went to her closet and grabbed her last few outfits to place in her suitcase. Soon enough the two girls had the rest of the room packed up and placed the boxes by the front door in neat stacks. Marie took a step back to view the now vacated room.

"Just as it was when I first came here… Time for a new adventure!" Marie sighed wistfully as she turned off the lights and shut the door on her old room. She looked to Kami and smiled. "Now to figure out how to get from place A to place B!"

Author's Note – Sorry about how short the last chapter was, I just really wanted to get it in. This one is a little more substantial at least.


	4. Chapter 4

The laughing sun was beginning to set over Death City when the rusty lock struggled to release and the creaky double doors began to swing open slowly. The clack of footsteps along the cold stone floor sounded off in the darkness until he flipped the switch. The light came on with a flicker and a loud thump reverberated through the house as a heavy box hit the floor. Stein looked at the source of the sound – a box of books dropped by his companion.

"Whoops…" Marie looked up and scratched the back of her head. "Well at least it wasn't fragile!" She let out a giggle and placed her hands on her hips. "So this is it, huh? A little dusty… but nothing a little elbow grease won't fix!" A smile lit up her face as she looked at Stein. His blank stare meeting her own excited one, before they both headed back outside to lug in more boxes.

It took them a few hours to get everything moved over and inside of the house, the clock nearing midnight when they finally shut and locked the door for the night. Stein quietly started to assemble his computer on top of a desk in a corner as Marie started setting up two sets of bedding in the living room. Stein walked away from his project, and out to the same room as his partner, looking down at Marie's makeshift beds.

"Why are you sleeping out here? We do have bedrooms, equipped with beds you know." He reached into his pocket to pull out a cigarette only to find an empty pack. Frowning, he tossed the pack into a trashcan filled with spider's webs – the only remaining remnant of a long gone tenant. Marie had kept flitting around the blankets, straightening them out as best she could on the hardwood floor.

"I know we have rooms, but it's already midnight and it's pretty dirty around here. I want to clean some more in there before I sleep in that room! I figured you'd want the same, so I made you a bed as well! See?" Marie pointed at the two haphazardly put together bedsets, smiling at her new meister.

Stein nodded in acknowledgement before turning away to walk back towards his computer station. "I appreciate the thought."

"Well, aren't you going to come to bed? It's already pretty late and we do have class tomorrow…" Marie called out after the lumbering teen, placing her hands on her hips.

"Probably not. Science beckons, Marie. Good night." Stein waved behind him before he disappeared into the darkened depths of the next room.

"Oh. Well…. Goodnight, Franken." Marie frowned before crawling into her own bed.

It didn't take long for Marie to be lulled into slumber, her chest lightly rising and falling with each restful breath. A few hours passed in serenity before she felt herself getting antsy in her sleep, tossing and turning with a groan. Waking up against her will, she looked around. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and she took a deep breath. Scratching her head, she looked to where Franken's bed was and decided it was time to check on him. She stretched as she stood, wrapping a blanket around herself and slowly plodded over into the other room.

Wincing at the bright light of the computer monitor, she saw Stein's hunched over form, his back moving with his regulated breaths. Smiling, she took the blanket from around her shoulders and placed it over his, tucking it around him to keep him warm. Squinting again to the wall, she saw that the clock read 5:37. Not exactly the time she wanted to be up – she'd been known for sleeping well past first bell – but since she was already awake she decided to get started on her day, heading over to the kitchen.

An hour passed as Marie cleaned up the kitchen a bit and started breakfast. The smell of coffee drifted through the house, and Stein woke with a start. He stared at the clock – it read 6:30, on the dot. He felt an unexpected weight on his shoulders and turned his head to look at the newly acquired blanket. He sat for a moment, before shrugging the fabric off and standing up, laying the blanket across the back of his chair. He put his hands in his pockets, and wandered towards the smell of the kitchen. When he got to the doorway, he cleared his throat a little. Marie looked up quickly.

"Oh! Good morning Franken! I'm making breakfast now, I'm just waiting on the potatoes and then we can sit and eat, ok?" Marie beamed up at him.

Stein's deadpan expression met her overly excited one.

"…Coffee." He said in almost a growl. The deep toned drawl almost caught Marie offguard.

"Coffee is almost done too. Wow Franken, you really aren't a morning person are you?" Marie smiled and out a hand next to her mouth, leaning close to him "Truth is, neither am I… I've just already been up for an hour so I can hide it better. Yup!" She stood straight up again and turned to her pan on the stove. "Why don't you go set up place settings on a nice spot on the floor, and I'll bring this stuff out when it's done, ok?"

Stein didn't say a word. Instead he just picked up some silverware and some napkins and walked away into the dining room. A few moments later, Marie followed with plates stacked with food. Flitting back and forth from the kitchen to their eating spot she also brought out the coffee, cream, and sugar. She poured a cup for stein and herself and placed the carafe down before sitting down. She started piling in spoonfuls of sugar, stirring it well before throwing a huge splash of cream into her cup. Looking up at Stein, she smiled and leaned back with her finished concoction.

"Do you take your coffee with anything?"

"No."

Marie was the first to pick up a fork and start working on her breakfast. Stein soon followed, and the pair ate in silence. When each had finished, Marie filled Stein's cup with the last of the coffee and stood up to take the plates into the kitchen. Rinsing them off, she called out to Stein.

"What time is it?"

Stein swallowed a gulp of his coffee before responding. " It's 7:00. We need to head out soon." He finished off the last sip from his mug and brought it into the kitchen, rinsing it off beside Marie. "You go get ready, I'll take care of the rest of these."

Marie looked at her meister and smiled. "Thank you Franken." Taking a quick pace, she walked over to a pile of her things and dug out an outfit for the day. Walking over to the bathroom, she pondered the time. '7:00, with the distance of school I probably don't have time for a shower…' She sighed and decided against it, instead taking the time to wash her face and brush her teeth before throwing on her clothes for the day.

When Marie finally emerged from the bathroom she walked straight into Stein's chest. The meister had been standing square in the doorway, waiting. Looking down at her, he took a step back before grabbing a small carrying case at his feet and turning around. He glanced back at Marie.

"Come on, we're further from the campus grounds now, we have to leave earlier than we're used to. Let's get going." Stein finished his sentence and started to walk towards the door. Marie smiled and followed behind him, closing the door as they headed off to school for the first time as partners.

Hopefully this formats right, I've been having trouble with that.

Sorry I've been gone for so long, I know I've been getting a lot of messages and reviews asking me to continue, and I apologize! Life's been a little weird and busy but I'm back now, so hopefully I can churn these out a little faster. In addition to the hour a day I take to food write, I'll start setting aside fic writing time so you won't be so left out!


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